Gameday: Marlins (28-30) at Phillies (30-26)
Posted by Michael Baumann, Tue, June 08, 2010 06:22 PM | Comments: 109
Gameday 2010, Posts
Florida Marlins (28-30) at Philadelphia Phillies (30-26)
Chris Volstad (3-6, 4.08 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (3-2, 4.26 ERA)
Time: 7:05, Citizens Bank Park
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 75
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Twitter: @philliesnation
A smattering of desperation appears to have infiltrated the thinking of the Phillies coaching staff this evening. Star right fielder Jayson Werth, in the process of collecting only three hits in his past 10 games (along with only one run scored, no stolen bases, and a golden sombrero along the way) is, to borrow a term from ice hockey, a health scratch. Ben Francisco, himself only hitting .233 and slugging only .302 this year, will take his place.
It’s not just Werth that isn’t hitting (Chase Utley’s batting average has dropped almost 50 points during this slide, for instance), but giving Werth a day off against a righty in the middle of a slump can’t hurt. Tonight’s Marlins starter is Chris Volstad, who, despite being a reasonably competent major league pitcher, has very few distinguishing qualities apart from his height (he’s 6-foot-8). Volstad works off a mediocre fastball to a mediocre slider, a decent curve, and a decent change.
The big news, apart from Werth being held out, is the debut of Mike Stanton, who will play right and bat seven for Florida. Stanton, if not for Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg coming up this year in the same division, would be getting a lot more press. Stanton has the bad luck of being the second-best 20-year-old right fielder in the division right now, but what a right fielder he is. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Stanton is a real masher. At age 18, he hit 39 home runs in only 125 games in A-ball. This year, in only 238 plate appearances, Stanton hit 21 home runs in AA, to go with a .441 on-base percentage and 44 walks against 53 strikeouts. As a fan of the game of baseball, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Stanton’s debut all season. As a Phillies fan, I wish the Marlins had waited a few days so he wouldn’t have to play against the Phillies.
Tonight’s Lineup: Victorino CF, Polanco 3B, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Francisco RF, Ibanez LF, Valdez SS, Ruiz C, Halladay P
Your Gameday Beer – Melanie Brewing Company Beer 30 Light
My roommate got this once in college. The name stuck out, as did the fact that you could get a 30-pack for the same price as a case of Natty Light. That’s right. This beer is cheaper than Natty Light. I was too scared to try any, but according to my roommate, it’s the pisswater to end all pisswater. And this is coming from the guy who drank heavy Busch for 4 years. Enjoy.– By Michael
GO PHILLIES!
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Posted: 06:53 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Bart Shart
Somebody on this team is going to have a big offensive evening. I believe it will be Howard…..multiple homers and a double. Kendrick will
continue his sharp pitching. Polanco and Victorino will each get two hits.
Posted: 06:54 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 teejvee
Utley and Werth will oh fer.
Howard will not have an extra base hit.
Ibanez will do nothing.
Same old ,same old.
Posted: 07:08 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Well, at least Utley is getting closer to the wall…
Posted: 07:26 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Scott in D.C.
Another “L” in the making. Strasburg is on local TV. So long, for tonight, Phils.
Posted: 07:37 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Oh good grief, GIDP? If we wanted that, we could have played Werth.
Posted: 07:39 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!!!
Posted: 07:40 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
WTF???
Posted: 07:48 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Kendrick, you suck.
Posted: 07:49 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
Strasburg already has 6 Ks through three innings…
Posted: 07:50 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Do my eyes deceive me? Utley got a single???
Posted: 07:56 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
GO BIG BROWN!!!! WOO HOO!!!
Posted: 07:56 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
Way to go Ry Ho, just got home in time to see him go opposite field with a deep fly. Maybe we can chip away and actually score some runs and I don’t know, win a game.
Posted: 07:58 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Damn, that was lucky.
Posted: 07:58 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Whee! It’s a hit parade!!
Posted: 08:00 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
3 runs with 2 outs? A single, and a steal and then a single by Raul? They call that manufacturing a run. Well done.
Posted: 08:00 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Bart Shart
….expect another homer from Big Brown. Sorry my prediction about Kendrick being sharp was not on point.
Posted: 08:02 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Yup. They’re actually playing well this inning!
Posted: 08:02 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
WOW!!! And Ibanez takes a base on a WP! BUt there’s the end of the inning.
Posted: 08:03 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Bart Shart
Howard is now among the leaders in the NL in RBIs. Phils will win this one and win the series. The slump is over. Francisco will begin to show his stuff and Ibanez will start hitting.
Keep the faith. We are still above .500. with lots more of the season left and a pitching stafff that is rounding into shape.
Thank God for Prozac.
Posted: 08:07 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
Paulino would have been a great backup catcher here…
Posted: 08:11 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Terri
please no more KK!!
Posted: 08:13 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Oh good grief… we’re gonna need some of Shart’s HRs!
Posted: 08:13 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
Kendrick just committed an error and misplayed, or didn’t play the ball up the middle and it has now lead to at minimum 2 runs.
After two good outings in a row you have to figure Kyle would get smacked around.
Posted: 08:15 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
Brett Myers is having a great year in Houston…
Posted: 08:15 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 jt
kendrick is garbage…teams don’t win when you got garbage like that and danny baez on your pitching staff.
Posted: 08:16 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
whew! glad that inning is over!
Posted: 08:20 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Woo hoo! The Hawaiian makes that one FLY!
Posted: 08:25 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
Amazing, we finally get some offense but our pitching just isn’t there. Hopefully we can keep them down and chip away.
Posted: 08:25 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
Myers is having a very good year, he has been ridiculously hot lately. His last 4 starts he has given up 0, 2, 1, 2 ER.
Posted: 08:26 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
Strasburg now has 11 Ks through six innings. Two runs allowed.
Posted: 08:34 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
Yeah I saw Strasburg when he was in Harrisburg, the kid is legit. His pitches have ridiculous movement and his fastball is borderline unhittable. But it is also his first start so advantage pitcher.
Posted: 08:40 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Dave
Man, Kendrick’s sinker has been getting killed.
Posted: 08:43 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 NJ Phils Fan
Lets go Phils!
Posted: 08:46 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 psujoe
Phils pitching sucks, just kidding. Finally some runs!
I would’ve taken Myers for $3.1 million and a 2 million buyout. That’s pretty cheap for a starting pitcher. He’s pitching better than all the Phillies pitchers except Halladay.
Posted: 08:48 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
I wanted Myers back, head case that he is, when he is on he is very good. But whatever, pitching hasn’t really been our issue.
Posted: 08:50 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
And once again Ross blows his gLoad on a useless popup.
Posted: 08:53 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 psujoe
Ed R.
I agree that pitching hasn’t been the problem, but Kendrick is averaging an inning less a game than Myers with an era of more than 1.5 per start ore than Myers. That’s a pretty significant difference.
Posted: 08:56 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
Strasburg now has 14 Ks through seven innings, including the last seven batters he has faced…wow!
Posted: 09:00 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ted Bell
I liked Myers also. Sometimes you need a crazy dude on the team to keep things loose. Contrast what Myers did in 2008 when asked to go to the minors to get straightened out with Oliver Perez refusing a demotion this year. Without Myers swallowing his pride and coming back strong in the second half the Phillies wouldn’t have won the division. By all accounts his teammates and Charlie loved him. Apparently, the front office did not…
Posted: 09:08 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Manny
Bye bye slump!
Posted: 09:09 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Manny
Utley 2-3, Howard 2-3, and Raul 3-3.
Breathe folks, breathe.
Posted: 09:16 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Terri
wow
Posted: 09:17 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Tracey
Now if we could just get the pitching/fielding together…
Posted: 09:22 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
I agree psujoe but if Happ wasn’t hurt then KK wouldn’t be starting anyway.
Posted: 09:28 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
To be honest with you, I will not admit to the slump being over until we A. win tonight and be win consistently while scoring 5-6 runs a game. We thought the slump was over when they beat the Padres 6-5.
Posted: 09:30 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Ed R.
.140…
This team actually has someone on their roster batting .140…how? Why?
Posted: 09:33 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 MikeB.
Impressive about Strasburg but he is facing the Pirates.
Posted: 09:37 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Bart Shart
Washington introduced a pitching beast tonight . Strasburg — 14 K’s in seven innings. Unhittable stuff. Washington might be a team on the very SHARP rise. Matt Capps (we could have had him for a song) got his 19th save. Damn.
Posted: 09:39 PM on June 8, 2010
Posts: 0 Manny
What the hell is Francisco doing? And why are people so high on him, even suggesting he can replace Raul?
Posted: 09:41 PM on June 8, 2010